Which of these bikes would better suit my needs?

I've narrowed my search down to two bikes and I need your help in deciding. The two bikes are the Forge Saranac CM and the Forge Vero LS. I will mainly be riding on pavement and occasionally on dirt roads, but no hardcore mountain biking. Just wondering which bike has the better components.

This isn't your typical *Mart bike. I've read on this forum, as well as others that they are quality bikes with quality components and great customer service. They just happen to only be sold online through Target. When you say junk bike, I assume that you own one or know someone that has owned one and that's the basis for your assessment.

Jason's bike

Jason,

One significant difference is the size. How tall are you ?
Also, for pavement riding you may enjoy the more Vero more since the Saranac has wider tires.

Originally Posted by jasonjeremiah

I've narrowed my search down to two bikes and I need your help in deciding. The two bikes are the Forge Saranac CM and the Forge Vero LS. I will mainly be riding on pavement and occasionally on dirt roads, but no hardcore mountain biking. Just wondering which bike has the better components.

This isn't your typical *Mart bike. I've read on this forum, as well as others that they are quality bikes with quality components and great customer service. They just happen to only be sold online through Target. When you say junk bike, I assume that you own one or know someone that has owned one and that's the basis for your assessment.

Both bikes are pretty much bottom of the line from a component standpoint. And while they're not Huffy's, they're not LBS quality really.

They may be quality bikes as you get up their line, but the ones you linked really aren't, sorry. Tourney/Altus are about as low as you get on the Shimano food chain

I bought a Vero LS before summer and put almost 800 miles on it. Most rides were around 30 miles, some 40. I am 5'10 and @210 lbs and had no trouble with the bike at all. If you have AAA you can save 10% through Target as well.

"You can't fix stupid. There's not a pill you can take, there's not a class you can go to. Stupid is forever." Ron White

Of the two I prefer the Forge because it has trigger shifters and not the twist grip shifters. I would consider them bottom of the line if they had 6 sp freewheels, but both have 7 sp freehubs which are much better

Both these bikes are low grade on specification and if you intend to use them for serious use they will cause you a few problems. Saying that- 20 years ago I had bikes running Tourney and Altus deraillers and They lasted for a couple of years but they never gave a good ride and a lot of walking up the hills. Those bikes were heavy.

Don't know how much they are going to cost but I do feel that with the low grade of these bikes -you could do a lot better by looking secondhand.